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Gilgamesh ran from the west treeline and with a mighty swing of his greatsword cleaved a group of six orcs at the foot of the hill. The monsters in front of him readied their weapons but each step, each swing of the S-ranker only created more corpses rolling down the hill. Behind him came Innana, using light magic to kill monsters that were trying to circle around the muscular champion.
"I can't believe our job is to kill orcs and monkeys. Were it fifteen years ago, I'd be excited too, but right now? It is a boring slog." Complained the leader of the subjugation force.
"You accepted payment, do your duty. Do not complain, it leaves a bad taste. If you think the job was too easy, return your share to Hrothgar." Chided the mage maiden.
"OOOORA!" Enkidu leaped from the bottom of the hill straight into the hilltop in an astonishing feat of strength. His beastmaster job allowed him to draw upon the spiritual power of beasts to grant him their physical traits. He landed and with a spin of his body, the giant greataxe in his hands became a spiral of death. Several devil monkeys that were wearing aprons near a grill died. "Fuck, why are these monkeys wearing clothes? Naked monkey apron, eww."
From the east side, Kareena dashed forward, using her rapier to deliver precise killing blows to several orcs. The maniac witch Shamhat was lobbing fireballs at the houses. And then they heard a very familiar cry.
"Damn, they have children as hostages! We need to rescue them," Kareena told her dark-skinned partner.
"Didn't you hear the guild receptionist? These children are potential monster brides. It will feel bitter, but we are killing all of them. C'mon, climb faster. They are going to flee to the other side of the hill."
"I don't like this a bit. We need to gather more information," answered the swordswoman between dodging some orc's club and piercing the heart of her opponent.
On the hilltop, Enkidu halted his slaughter because he felt a sting on his back as several wind blades cut his exposed skin.
"What was that?" He turned to see a Crested Naga getting ready to launch another volley of wind blades. "Shit, look at this. A boobless snake lady. Too bad your upper torso is scaly, lass. If you were a lamia, I'd have some fun fondling you. But now you will die!"
Calling upon the spirit of the hare, Enkidu leaped to cleave Shraaizar in two. He was forced to lower his oversized ax to block a sudden spear stab that was aimed at his belly and lost his chance to attack the Naga.
"Bastard. I will be your opponent. Get ready to have your butt kicked," Roared Grendel. He designated Shraaizar as his bodyguard target and the Naga unleashed another volley of wind blades at the barbarian. Readying his trusted horn spear, the troll stood face to face with the seven feet tall warrior.
"Jackpot! Hey Gil, I've found the big guy. Hurry up here or you are going to miss the fun!" Enkidu readied his stance and ran to attack the troll.
Grendel had to stall for time. The humans were running down the hill and needed to get out of sight and out of detection range from these adventurers. A troop of devil monkeys was tasked with covering the human's tracks to avoid detection and a band of orcs was going to climb the hill over the same tracks to add confusion. The monkeys would then guide the humans deep inside the death willow meadow. Alvus was with the forty potion case to help the children fight back the meadow's poison mist.
Another two cottages exploded and a person in flames ran up the hill, distracting Grendel. It seems not all humans were in the group that ran away, some of them decided to hide inside the houses.
"Hahahahaha! Die, traitors! You shall be purified by flame, monster sympathizers. Nothing good can come of this forbidden union!" Shouted a frenzied Shamhat. She was a notorious pyromaniac. The more fire magic she used in combat, the more she would cast and bigger and hotter they would be. "Hey Enkidu, they fled down the hill into those death willows, stop playing with the troll and go there hunt them. I'm telling Gilgamesh to cut half of your pay if you let them get away."
Kareena seized a moment where the troll was distracted trading blows with Enkidu to attack the naga behind him. She lunged and used her technique, 'Heartseeker Blade'. It was an extremely advanced technique that allowed her to hit with a hundred percent accuracy the heart of her target. It could not be dodged, only parried or blocked. The naga was as good as dead.
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Her blade was inches away from the chest of her target when the troll twisted his torso and placed an arm in the way of the rapier. The stab was deep, but for a monster as big as Grendel it was nothing more than a sting. Enkidu seized that distraction to use a technique of his own.
"Take that, monster! 'Kneecap Breaker'." It was also an advanced technique where a sudden low swing aimed to sever the leg of the opponent. This one could not be parried, only blocked or dodged.
With the pincer attack, Grendel was left wide open to the swing from his blindside and lost his footing. Enkidu didn't wait for the troll to fall down and leaped over them in the direction of the death willow meadow. At the same time, he used two skills.
"Terrifying Beastlord Roar! Fear Tracker!"
The first one caused fear in a very wide area and the second one placed tracking markers on those affected with fear from the user. It was a perfect combo for hunting down a lot of weak targets.
Grendel didn't fall but was forced to use his spear to lean on. Shraaizar offered some support but this left them exposed to the guild master's rapier. He looked the woman in the eyes and thought 'two can play this trick'
"Intimidating Presence! Ferocious Shout!"
With a lower tier version of the shout used by the ax-wielder, Grendel {92 vs 85} managed to make the two women attempting to attack them back off. This gave him enough time to use telekinesis to pull his leg in place and make it reattach naturally to his body. His troll regeneration was able to do this even without the detachable limbs skill.
"Hey, did you know death willows burn nicely?" The crazy witch recovered from her fear and asked no one in particular. She began the chant to a really long fire spell. One could see the sparks, embers, and blazes forming around her hands and staff as she waved them around.
Gilgamesh finished climbing the hill with Innana right behind him. The light mage spared no time and launched an advanced spell.
"Sunburst Ray."
She changes without a drop of emotion in her voice. Although instantaneous, the light source created by the spell needed a bit of time to flare and shoot. Grendel used one of his trumps and placed his spear in front of the light beam. "Spell Parry." {35 vs 47} The light beam was stopped by a glowing spear.
"It sssemsss thisss isss our final ssstand, Grendel." Said Shraaizar with determination in her voice. She shot wind blades at Kareena and {66 vs 2} severely wounded the swashbuckler.
"I'm not losing you. We are going to win this one." The same determination could not be found in his bravado. Grendel was afraid.
"Kareena!" Gilgamesh was, as one could expect, overprotective of his twin sister. He was against her retirement, but the girl could not bear the weight of being compared to her more competent brother.
Raging, Gilgamesh came and swung his greatsword with a speed one would expect from an experienced dagger wielder with the smaller weapon. {59 vs 64} Grendel was only able to dodge and parry, focusing his entire attention on defense. He was outnumbered two to one.
Innana circled around the furious melee and focused on healing Kareena. The two shared more than a decade of adventure and she was one of the few people the poker-faced spellcaster considered decent. This was enough time for the pyromaniac to finish her spell.
"Overboost, Increase area, Increase range, Multicast, Inferno Blast, Inferno Blast, Inferno Blast, Inferno Blast!"
The chaining of spell-modifying skills was the reason that the chant was so long even with a maxed out reduce casting time. The base amount of MP used in that single casting was enough to keep a guild crystal running for a month.
Four beads of flame flew from Shamhat and went over four places of the meadow in a diamond pattern, ushered by the maniacal cackling of the witch. They blew into wide fireballs that engulfed most of the meadow and raised pillars of flame for more than a hundred feet in the air.
"Fucking bastards, leave them alone!" Roared Grendel. Due to his Emperor's Might passively adding a whopping 250% to his prowess, Grendel was stronger but Gilgamesh was way more skilled both in System statistics and in actual field combat experience. The troll could not find a single opening and had no leeway to let one in his defense. He received several cuts from Gilgamesh and those were deep enough to overcome his natural regeneration. He also could not get away from the Naga, or she would lose the protection from Bodyguard.
"Gaaaa!" Shouts and screams could be heard behind the cracking of burning wood downhill. The muscular figure of a man wielding an ax too big for a person running after a troop of monkeys could be seen against the flames. Ahead of them, the people that sought refuge in the meadow were coming back.
"Leave us alone! We just want to live here in peace!" Grendel pleaded. "At least spare your fellow humans!"
The troll knew it was almost impossible to escape. The wounds and pressure from Gilgamesh were chipping at his will to fight and his mind was racing trying to find a way to turn the tables. He was a geek during his previous life on Earth, and due to playing too many war video games he took an interest in military theory. He studied the works of Sun-Tzu, Corbett, Clausewitz and many others. He was caught off-guard and there were too many civilians to protect.
"Never, monster! We were enemies from the moment you spawned." Gilgamesh locked weapons with Grendel and pinned his spear with his greatsword. "Now, sister! Finish him!"
Kareena was already at full health and approached the troll with a hateful look. "Heartseeker Blade!" She unleashed the sword technique that could not be dodged, only parried or blocked. Grendel had no shield and his weapon was pinned.
The rapier pierced and destroyed the troll's heart. Grendel's HP instantly hit zero and his body just collapsed without a driving force.
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